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Pulled Two Messed Up Frames, Wrong?

I have an 8 frame setup, got my first nuc in the spring. The last frame in the nuc has a part that is curved in and they built the next one out all messed up. So I took that one out and replaced it before they started filling it. That was probably month and a half ago. I also gave them a second large super. I went in a couple weeks later and they were messing up that end frame again, built a sort of cave. I flipped the cave to the outside and left it to see what would happen. I figured it is their frame, so if they are happy with that I'll just leave it and maybe they'll do better on the other side. Today I went in and they messed it up again, glued it to the original bad frame and the one above. So both bottom frames were a sticky mess and the one above was messed up on the bottom only. All the other frames look great, so I made sure the queen was somewhere else and pulled & replaced both this time and cleaned up the one above it. I feel really bad but it is messing up the whole area. So I laid the frames in front of the hive so they could get what they can out of them and will take them away tonight. I have two questions: 1) How wrong is what I did, what should I do/have done differently? 2) How can I keep from squishing some when I close it up? Thanks for your help!

Re: Pulled Two Messed Up Frames, Wrong?

The bees don't care if the comb is all messed up, but it makes it hard to manage a hive.

I pulled some bad comb from a hive this year for the same reason, and will be extracting a couple medium frames from what is usually a brood box this weekend to get rid of some messed up comb as well. I think you did the right thing.

However, I now crosswire all my frames and used wired foundation -- this seems to be the only way to get rid of or prevent warped comb, and the bees will make new comb to match the warped stuff, even attaching the warped comb to the side or other foundation. Get rid of it pronto, replace those frames with wired foundation to get them making straight comb!

Re: Pulled Two Messed Up Frames, Wrong?

Foundation, wired or not, won't prevent the bees from making a frame with more comb on one side, attaching to the side, or anything else they decide to do. I generally just use the hive tool to shave it down a bit or push it back in line, and the bees usually fix it.

Re: Pulled Two Messed Up Frames, Wrong?

Thanks, guys. I feel better about what I did now. I took the honey I could off the frame but a lot was not salvageable due to a some larva on the over side (in the cave). Upon further examination, I see what the original problem is - the foundation in the end frame of the nuc was installed crooked. So they built up the corner that was in and left the rest to create the dent because the wall of the nuc box was there. They were building out the frame next to it because of that. I only have wired foundation for my medium boxes, the larges have plastic one-piece things (except the nuc frames which are wood with plastic foundation). I'm crossing my fingers that this will solve it and I won't have to set my bees back again.